A Fox named Ted
by GUNMAN003
Summary: Marina Wulfstan has ended her life as a sniper for the Gallian Milita and is now spending her life hunting out in Kloden,one day however, one hunting trip ended up changing her life for the better.


**A Fox named "Ted"**

It was three months after the second Europan war, and everyone of Squad 7 of the Gallian Militia has disbanded to follow their own paths. Marina Wulfstan was no exception to this fate, she was a sniper in Squad 7, and was often considered the best sniper in the militia, others consider her the best in the entire army. Of course she didn't believe so, she had heard stories of her father, Marcus Wulfstan, who was a sniper in the first Europan war, rack up over one hundred kills by the war's end. She however, only got around eighty by the end of the second war. Of course not that it mattered, her father died when she was a child, and had to be cared for by a close friend of his for a while, Catherine 'O' Hara. She was a veteran of the first war and also worked along side Marina in the second. Now, Catherine had set off to parts unknown, leaving Marina to take care of herself.

Marina lived in her father's cabin where she was raised, in the middle of the Kloden Wildwood. Back in the days of her youth, her father taught her how to hunt, it was a rather odd relationship considering that she was a girl, and that kind of thing was normally taught to boys, but since her mother died not long after her birth, her father could not have any sons. So, he decided to teach Marina, much to Catherine's disapproval.

-

"_Marcus! What on earth are you doing?!? Catherine exclaimed when she saw her friend hand his daughter a hunting rife._

"_What's it look like I'm doing? I'm teaching my daughter to hunt." Marcus said in his usual gruff voice._

"_B-but! Marina is a young lady! She won't grow up to be a proper one if you teach her something that was meant for boys." Catherine complained_

"_Okay Marina, you hold the butt of the gun to your chest, that's a good girl." he said to Marina, clearly ignoring Catherine._

_Marina was nervous, she didn't like being around guns, even though her own father owned a collection of them, she never imagined herself even touching one._

"_Good, now, look through the scope, see that little rabbit?" her father asked._

_Marina looked through the scope, she indeed saw a rabbit. "Yeah, do I shoot it now?" she asked_

"_No, not yet, wait until you know have a good shot at it. Until then, keep the crosshairs on it."_

_The rabbit was eating some food on the ground, it was bait set up by Marcus to teach Marina to hunt. Marina, was starting to shake, she started to lose control of the gun._

"_Stay calm, you can do this." Marcus assured her._

"_Marcus, I think she may be too young for this." Catherine tried to reason._

"_Okay, now!" Marcus said_

_Marina closed her eyes and pulled the trigger, she looked through the scope again, the rabbit was now dead._

"_Hmmph, not bad for your first time." Marcus said as she ruffled Marina's hair._

_Marina smiled knowing that she made her dad happy._

_-_

Marina loaded up her hunting rifle, she was out to get dinner for herself. She decided to head towards the mountains, it was the time of year when rare types of birds migrate, and this was the only time she can get to them. As she headed towards the mountains, she walked through the forest, much to her displeasure, she was allergic to pollen and felt uncomfortable walking through, one would question why she would live out in the forest if she is allergic, and she would answer, "Because I get my food here". There's nowhere else to hunt for miles.

As she finally got to the mountains, Marina instantly found a flock of blue crested birds migrating, she didn't know what they were called, she then thought back to her days in the squad, her squad leader was an expert when it came to nature, and would often randomly give lectures about "the wonders of nature."

Marina took aim at a particularly fat bird, the meatier the better she thought, she took her time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike like her father taught her. The bird, then sat down, completely unaware that it was being hunted. Now was the time to strike she thought, she pulled the safety trigger and was about to fire. But then, something unexpected happened, a small white fox jumped in and caused the flock to scatter. They then swarmed the creature and started to peck at it, the fox let out cries of pain as the birds viciously bit and scratched him. Marina felt a pain in her stomach, she couldn't sit idly by and watch a helpless creature get killed, she ran over to the flock and scared them off. She found the fox, wounded, blood flowing out of it's leg. Marina knew it would not last long lying around injured, so she carefully picked up the fox and brought it home.

-

Marina placed the fox on her bed where it can lie down. She then went to the cupboard where she keeps her medical supplies, she placed antibiotics on the fox's wound, and wrapped it in bandages. She then decided to cook up some food she made from the remains of other animals she had hunted. As she came into the room to give the fox it's meal, she suddenly blushed when she saw the fox sleeping, she thought it was rather adorable when it's eyes were closed and it's body moved while it was breathing. She always had a soft spot for cute things. Such as Hans the porcavian back when she was in the militia. Every day, she would secretly bring Hans to a secluded location in the base to feed him while no one was looking, she didn't want anyone to know that she, who was normally a person who acted as cold as ice towards other people, had a soft spot deep down. Especially not Ted, the squad's wanna-be jester.

-

"_Hey, hey! Marina!" Ted, a boy who had spiky dark brown hair called out._

_Marina, who was sitting down eating lunch by herself pretended he wasn't there._

"_Oh come on Marina! At least say hello! You can't be that anti-social!" Ted said_

_Marina turned her icy glare towards Ted and sneered. "Fine, hello Ted. Now go away."_

"_Wait! I just thought up a great joke that will guarantee to make you laugh.!" Ted said with a goofy grin._

_Ted had a thing for making people laugh at his dumb jokes and routines, and when he discovered that Marina didn't laugh at his joke the first time, he made it his life's goal to make her laugh._

"_What do you call an ant talking to a foot?" Ted asked_

_Marina decided to humor him, "I don't know, what Ted?"_

"_Dead! Get it? Haha!"_

_Marina didn't laugh and continued eating her lunch._

"_Oh come on! I know I can make you laugh eventually Marina, just you wait and see!"_

_-_

He never did succeed at trying to make Marina laugh, and she was glad. Three days had passed sense she kept the fox in her house, and he was becoming better and better as time went by. When she came in one day to feed the fox again, she found that the fox was rolling around on the floor, similar to how a dog would. Marina held in a smile as she looked at it, she couldn't believe how cute it was acting. Later, the fox jumped up onto Marina's lap as she was sitting down to read her book. She didn't normally like being interrupted during this time, but she decided to let him lie down anyway.

She thought for a while of keeping the creature as a pet, but it was a wild animal, and she usually liked to be alone. Besides, if she were to develop a bond to the fox, it wouldn't be good for her if it somehow died. So, when the fox was completely recovered, she brought it back to the mountains where she found him.

"Now, I want you to go now, you no longer need to be cared by me." Marina said, as she turned around to leave.

But the fox grabbed onto her leg, obviously not wanting her to go.

"No, you must stay here, you belong out here." Marina said beginning to sound annoyed.

As she continued walking, the fox ran around her in circles, Marina watched as the fox looked up at her with it's brown eyes. Suddenly, she was filled with sadness, this fox loved her so much, and she felt a bond between them, but she knew it wouldn't be right to keep him away from it's natural habitat, so she kicked him away. The fox yelped from the blow it received.

"I said go! Go now!!" Marina yelled in anger.

The fox tucked it's tail between it's legs and ran off, she knew it won't come back this time, she then suddenly felt tears running down her face. That fox was the closest she had in a friend, and she knew it, but it would be best for them both if they lived in their respective worlds.

As Marina walked home, she began to question herself, did she really wanted that fox to be happy, or was it really just her own selfish desire to be alone and isolated from the rest of the world. Her train of thought was broken when she heard a branch snap in the distance. She quickly pulled her hunting rifle off her back, knowing that she wasn't alone. She stopped and listened for anymore sounds, she then heard heavy breathing and snorting, whatever it was it was coming towards her fast, and she turned to the sound of the noise, only to find herself pinned down by the worst possible animal to be caught by, a bear.

The bear roared and scratched at her, knocking the rifle out of her hand, it flew ten feet away from where they were.

"No, my rifle!" Marina thought.

Was this the end? To be caught and eaten by one of nature's largest and strongest predators? It would be a rather fitting end for her, considering she hunts wildlife for a living. She stared down the bear who was about to lunge right at her jugular.

Then suddenly, the bear reared back and roared in pain, Marina looked and saw what was causing the beast pain, the fox had came back to save Marina. It was clawing and biting into the bear's neck, until eventually, it was thrown off. The bear started to head towards the fox to kill it for daring to attack him. Marina then saw that this was her only chance to get to her rifle, she ran and grabbed it, she took aim at the bear's head and fired.

The bear who was heading towards the fox, fell over on it's side, blood was coming out of the hole in it's head and mouth, Marina knew it was dead. The fox then ran over to Marina, rolling on his back like before as a way of saying thank you for saving his life. Marina watched the fox and let out a small giggle, realizing what she has done, she suddenly had flashbacks of Ted constantly trying to make her laugh. It was almost as if this fox was out to carry out his goal, and succeeded.

"You know what little guy…" Marina said to the fox.

"I'll name you Ted."

Ted jumped up and down and ran around in circles in front of Marina, as if it was saying thank you for the name.

"Now, come on, let's go home."

Marina and Ted began their way back to her cabin, where he can now call his home too.

**The End **

**So yeah, I've decided to make a short story in between chapters of my other story, "The Tale of the Head-Lit Deer." I hoped you like it. **


End file.
